Luscious Johnny Valiant Killed By a Truck In Pittsburgh

I was laying in a hot bath, thinking about some trivial shit that I’m annoyed with. Then I came across a post from my friend Evan Ginzburg which said that Luscious Johnny Valiant was killed by a truck in Pittsburgh.

Evan isn’t one to post nonsense, so I knew it had to be true, but I had to check the news to see if there were any official reports of his death.

Sadly, there were. So much for the trivial bullshit I was upset about. A great man has left us. That is a tragedy.

I met Johnny a few years ago when I had the honor and pleasure of a delicious home cooked meal from Hell’s Kitchen Alumni, Barrett Beyer, courtesy of Cris and Alysia Stern from what was then called TRSRadio.

Johnny was a very nice guy, and he was quite funny. He spoke about his life, wrestling, and he told us stories about what it was like to share a room with Andre the Giant. It was such a treat to hang out with him, and I’m grateful I got to have that while he was still here.

One of the things that stood out most is that he said he was doing stand up comedy. That was his passion at the time.

You wouldn’t expect a former wrestling legend to go into standup, at least I wouldn’t, but that was his thing.

Luscious lived in Woodside, which is where I lived at for a few years. I tried in vain to get a hold of him a few times after we met, but he really wasn’t a big social media guy. I wish that I had the chance to spend more time with him.

Of course now the WWE has put out a condolence piece, and though I appreciate it, I’d rather that they take care of their former meal tickets while they are here, and not throw a parade once they are gone.

I’m saddened by the loss of this legend. I send out the deepest condolences to his family and close friends. Rest in peace, Luscious.